Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Samir H. Köck talks to the British saxophonist John Surman about the cold of his adopted home Norway, about the influence of nature on his music, about British folk melodies and the road to his own sound, and about the unpredictability of his music ( Die Presse). --- Matthew Everett talks to the violinist Regina Carter about having learned how to play jazz like a saxophonist because her university had no formal jazz violin program, about there being no jazz or no-jazz instruments but only musicians who choose whatever music they want to play to express themselves, about her next project which will celebrate Ella Fitzgerald, and about her favorite configuration to work with being the big band ( Knoxville Mercury).

22 January 2016 Wolfgang Reisinger / Kamasi Washington

Samir H. Köck talks to the Austrian drummer Wolfgang Reisinger about music on the radio, about his road to the drums, about the Vienna jazz scene of the 1970s, about having to work as a driver for a while, and about the need to take risks when playing jazz ( Die Presse). --- In a lengthy article, Adam Schatz talks to the saxophonist Kamasi Washington about the story behind the title of his three-CD album "The Epic", about the Inglewood neighborhood in Los Angeles where he lives, about having been called the "jazz voice of Black Lives Matter", about always having wanted to be a "positive force in the world", about his father testing the seriousness of his 13-year-old son to become a jazz musician by having him sing a Charlie Parker solo note for note, about his obsession with John Coltrane's music, about studying with Gerald Wilson and playing with Snoop Dogg, about categories such as "jazz" ghettoizing forms of music, about working with Flying Lotus (Steven Ellison), and about the meaning of his name, Kamasi ( New York Times).

23 January 2016DIVA / Luciana Souza

Eliana Yu talks to the drummer Sherrie Maricle about playing with and directing the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, about the repertoire of the band, and about the need to adapt the performance to the audience and the venue at every concert ( Purdue Exponent). --- Marcus Crowder talks to the singer Luciana Souza about her latest album, "Speaking in Tongues", about working with the guitarist Lionel Loueke, the harmonica player Grégoire Maret and the drummer Kendrick Scott, as well as about the job of producer (and husband) Larry Klein for the album ( The Sacramento Bee).

24 January 2016 Ingolf Burkhardt / Switzerland

Christina Schlie talks to the German trumpeter Ingolf Burkhardt about his instrument being a constant companion, even on family vacations, about the need to practice his horn whether for his own projects or his work with the NDR Bigband, about his road to becoming a professional musician, as well as about his musical aesthetic and wanting to reach a broader audience with his music ( Hamburger Abendblatt). --- Ueli Bernays reports about economic hardships for jazz musicians in Switzerland and the fear for their existence, about the fact that most musicians will have to finance their CD productions without ever making money of it, about for-the-door concerts which won't help either, about the surplus of musicians in Switzerland being a result of jazz schools in the country and about the main pillar for many musicians being teaching jobs, be it private lessons, at schools, music schools or music universities ( Neue Zürcher Zeitung).

25 January 2016Irvin Mayfield / Black Benny Williams

Greg LaRose ( New Orleans Times-Picayune ) and Sam Darcangelo ( OffBeat) report that trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, both of whom had been accused of improperly using $1 million from the New Orleans Library Foundation have decided that the funds had actually been used properly and thus they would not have to pay the money back. --- James Karst reports about the drummer Black Benny Williams who had been a New Orleans legend in the early years of jazz, many years later still remembered by the likes of Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet, who died in 1924 after having been stabbed by a jealous lady and after having been one of the first patients to receive a blood transfusion, leaving no recorded document of his music behind ( New Orleans Times-Picayune).

26 January 2016Wolfgang Dauner / Oberlin College

Ulrich Kriest ( Stuttgarter Zeitung) and Thomas Morawitzky ( Stuttgarter Nachrichten ) report about a concert honoring the German pianist Wolfgang Dauner who also received an award by his home state of Baden-Württemberg from the hands of the state's vice governor Nils Schmidt after which Dauner, asked whether he had anything else to say, quoted Charlie Parker who supposedly after receiving an award simply proclaimed, "I would rather play something now..". --- Phillip Morris reports about discussions about ethnic diversity at Oberlin College's jazz program and about student demands to rename one of the campus buildings in honor of the creator and longtime director of Oberlin's jazz department ( The Plain Dealer).

27 January 2016... what else ...

Marc Chénard remembers the late pianist Paul Bley ( The Globe and Mail). --- Patrick Jarenwattananon reports about what he heard at Winter Jazzfest in New York ( NPR). --- Hans-Jürgen Linke hears the German baritone saxophonist Ekkehard Jost and the bassist Dieter Manderscheid in Gießen ( Gießener Anzeiger ). --- Klaus Mümpfer attends the Mainz Jazz Talks about women in jazz ( Allgemeine Zeitung). --- Raimund Meisenberger reports that Bavarian public TV will continue to televise the Burghausen jazz festival but that this year will be the last event they will cover ( Burghauser Anzeiger). --- Marcus Zecha reports about a jazz initiative in Göppingen, Germany, urgently searching for a new venue ( Göppinger Kreisnachrichten ). --- John Scott Lewinski reports about The Django, a new jazz venue in New York City ( Crave). --- Ed Mesley talks to the singer Al Jarreau ( The Arizona Republic). --- Hector Saldana reports about the guitarist Jackie King who suffered a massive heart attack following a recent stroke ( My San Antonio).

Obituary

We learned of the passing of the German critic and jazz researcher Gerhard Conrad at the age of 87, as well as of the German saxophonist Kathrin Lemke at the age of 44.

Last Week at the Jazzinstitut

Last Wednesday the Mainz JazzTalks focused on women in jazz. The well-attended evening was framed by three music ensembles; in between the saxophonist Angelika Niescier, the publisher Christine Stephan, the festival promoter Nadin Deventer and the moderator Wolfram Knauer discussed several aspects of female participation in the jazz business. The Mainz JazzTalk was recorded by SWR radio and will be broadcast on 1 March 2016 (SWR2, 9:03-10:00pm). Klaus Mümpfer reported for the local press ( Allgemeine Zeitung).

On Friday Jasper van't Hof and Reto Weber performed at a JazzTalk concert in the Jazzinstitut's concert space. In the on-stage conversation they spoke about instruments (Weber played an assortment of percussion instruments including the Hang which he had helped to conceive), about improvisational approaches, and about the necessity to include the audience in the performance. Cristina Weber reported for our local newspaper ( Darmstädter Echo).

The program of the 37th edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal presented by TD in collaboration with Rio Tinto just got even better! Tickets for these new concerts go on sale Friday, January 29 at noon. Exclusive pre-sale for Spectra Newsletter subscribers: Thursday, January 28 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. (register free at infolettrespectra.ca).

Ms. Lauryn Hill - July 5, 7:30 p.m., Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, PdA - Catapulted to fame as a member of the Fugees, grande dame of R&B Lauryn Hill returns to the Festival after a long absence-14 years, to be exact. In the meantime, she has enhanced a rich repertoire blending rap, soul, reggae and R&B with two major projects we can't wait to discover: the acoustic concert series Small Axe, an intimate window on her musical world, and her recent homage to Nina Simone, folding her magnificent voice into the music of the queen of jazz.

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - July 9, 7:30 p.m., Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, PdA - Soaring in the same supremely talented ether of Britpop predecessors Oasis, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds continue their UK hitmaking trajectory with their 2nd album, Chasing Yesterday (2015), topping the charts out of the box. Here we find Noel at the height of his estimable powers, fully inspired and surrounded by a handful of excellent musicians digging into supremely catchy pop-rock that matches classicism with new musical energy. Gallagher wings in with music that sings like a bird. Co-produced with evenko.

Chick Corea trio with Christian McBride and Brian Blade - July 1, 7 p.m., Maison symphonique - The legendary pianist's last visit dates back to 2012, when he shared the bill with Gary Burton. As part of a tour marking his 75th birthday, Chick Corea arrives this time with a trio and settles into the Maison symphonique, accompanied by virtuosos Christian McBride on bass and Brian Blade on drums, longtime collaborators as part of the famed Five Peace Band, with whom he released the Grammy-winning album Trilogy (2014 Best Jazz Instrumental Album).

Jay-Jay Johanson - July 6, 6 p.m., Club Soda - Quite simply astonishing in the Ges in his last Montreal visit back in February 2015, Jay-Jay Johanson arrives with material from his latest album, the 11th in a marvelous 20-year career spent exploring the boundaries of otherworldly sound. A master melancholist weaving a musical world between electro, jazz and trip-hop, the Swedish artist once again invites us to a magical evening of delicate melodies and airy rhythms from the soul of a man possessed.

Avishai Cohen trio - July 2, 8 p.m., Monument-National - One year after having to cancel his Festival show to our great disappointment, illustrious Israeli double bassist Avishai Cohen returns to his Montreal audience. Accompanied by pianist Nitai Hershkovits and drummer Daniel Dor, with whom he shares a rare creative chemistry, he'll unveil pieces from the album From Darkness, music of remarkable finesse featuring 11 rich and eclectic jazz compositions that shimmer with bold playing and subtle harmonies.

Fred Hersch solo - July 5, 10:30 p.m., Ges - "When it comes to the art of solo piano in jazz, there are currently two classes of performers: Fred Hersch and everybody else", according to All About Jazz. With some 50 albums to his credit as a bandleader or accompanist, Fred Hersch is considered one of the most talented composers on the current jazz scene, recognized for the immense beauty and sensitivity of his style. In other words, combine the intimacy of the Ges and a player of this caliber, and this is a musical event you simply cannot miss

Emilie-Claire Barlow Orchestral - July 6, 7 p.m., Maison symphonique - After winning over critics with her exacting, airy voice, this newest star of Canadian jazz became the darling of the Festival after her revelatory 2007 debut. With her latest album, Clear Day, the artist met a most daunting challenge: revisiting an eclectic repertoire including Brad Mehldau, Simon & Garfunkel, Coldplay, Van Morrison and Queen, featuring orchestral arrangements, strings, brass and piano. Best of all, Emilie-Claire Barlow brings her gem of an album to the Maison symphonique, where she will perform in that orchestral format!

To get the jump on the crowd, sign up for the Spectra Newsletter (infolettrespectra.ca) and have the scoop on the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal emailed to your inbox. For further information, call the Info-Jazz La Presse+ Line at 514 871-1881, toll-free at 1 85JAZZFEST, or visit montrealjazzfest.com.

The 37th edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal will be held from June 29 to July 9, 2016.

Hidden Voices, the new album by pianist/composer Aruán Ortiz's will be out January 29 on Intakt.

One of the most accomplished and powerful pianists on the scene today, Ortiz keeps a busy schedule touring and recording. He's been performing with a range of artists including Wadada Leo Smith and is featured on upcoming recordings by everyone from Sun-Ra alum Francisco Mora Catlett's AfroHORN to Nasheet Waits, Nicole Mitchell and Grete Skarpeid (more details below).
Featuring Ortiz with bassist Eric Revis and drummer Gerald Cleaver, Hidden Voices comprises seven Ortiz originals, Ornette Coleman's "The Sphinx" and "Open and Close," Thelonious Monk's "Skippy" and, to conclude, a traditional song called "Uno, Dos y Tres, Que Paso Más Chevere" that, Ortiz remarks, "everybody in Cuba knows from festivities and carnivals."

Hidden Voices is named for the sounds that permeated his consciousness during Ortiz's formative years in the working-class neighborhood of Santiago de Cuba. "Within a radius of two square miles, anybody could walk on the street and hear groups playing popular music, folkloric dance companies, bembés, comparsas such as 'Los Hoyos' rehearsing their procession, random amateur guitar players and singers jamming and singing old trova songs, choirs performing liturgical songs, rumba percussion groups, Cuban-Haitian folkloric groups playing Tumba Francesa, and so on."

"At the same time I was exposed to European classical music from a very early age at the Conservatory of Music. Being exposed to this compilation of styles every day nurtured my ears, and forged a very personal and eclectic understanding of the music."

In addition to this recording, Oritz is busy touring and is featured on four other upcoming projects coming out this spring/summer:
o Francisco Mora Catlett's AfroHORN - "At the Edge of the Spiral" to be released in February/March on AACE. AfroHORN's third CD features Ortiz with Sam Newsome, Alex Harding, Bruce Williams, Román Diaz, Ugonna Okegwo, Abiodun Oyewole (The Last Poets), among many others.

o Nicole Mitchell - "Moments of Fatherhood" to be released in May 2016 on Rogue Art.

o Norwegian vocalist Grete Skarpeid -. Title TBA. Ortiz is this CD's producer, arranger and performer. It'll be out later this year on the Neuklang/Bauer Studios label.
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Pianist/composer Aruán Ortiz presents his unique "Cuban Cubism" conception on the brilliant new CD Hidden Voices, in trio with Eric Revis and Gerald Cleaver

"Keep an eye this year on Aruán Ortiz, a Cuban-born New York pianist who's become a mark of quality on gigs and records." - Ben Ratliff, New York Times, Jan. 2013

"Of all of the younger generation of Cuban pianists/composers who have left Cuba to seek their fortunes in the United States, Aruán, who was born in Santiago de Cuba, may be the most avant garde. His compositions are highly structured, and you can hear his Cuban roots emerge on occasion (especially from the rhythm section), but this music has more in common with Dave Holland and Ornette Coleman than it does with your father's Latin Jazz." - www.timba.com, August, 2014

"The ambitious young Cuban pianist Aruán Ortiz balances the musical bedrock of his heritage against a taste for abstraction. His partners in this trio, Eric Revis on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums, are well equipped to go wherever the music leads." - Nate Chinen, New York Times, March 2015

NYC CD Release Concert at The Jazz Standard, February 2, 2016
Boston Release Concert at Scullers on March 2, 2016

In naming his exceptional new album Hidden Voices (available January 29, 2016 on Intakt) Aruán Oritz, an avatar of creative and progressive improvisation, is referring first and foremost to the sounds that permeated his consciousness during formative years.

"Within a radius of two square miles," the 42-year-old Brooklyn-based pianist-composer recalls of the working-class neighborhood of Santiago de Cuba where he grew up, "anybody could walk on the street and hear groups playing popular music, folkloric dance companies, bembés, comparsas such as 'Los Hoyos' rehearsing their procession, random amateur guitar players and singers jamming and singing old trova songs, choirs performing liturgical songs, rumba percussion groups, Cuban-Haitian folkloric groups playing Tumba Francesa, and so on.

"At the same time I was exposed to European classical music from a very early age at the Conservatory of Music. Being exposed to this compilation of styles every day nurtured my ears, and forged a very personal and eclectic understanding of the music."

Now an avatar in the world of progressive improvisation, Ortiz convenes bassist Eric Revis and drummer Gerald Cleaver, who operate synchronously and creatively throughout Hidden Voices. The album comprises seven Ortiz originals, Ornette Coleman's "The Sphinx" and "Open and Close," Thelonious Monk's "Skippy" and, to conclude, a traditional song called "Uno, Dos y Tres, Que Paso Más Chevere" that, Ortiz remarks, "everybody in Cuba knows from festivities and carnivals and so on." In distinction to the bright tempo heard on three separate versions of the song available on YouTube, Ortiz sustains each of the "very recognizable first notes" with calibrated touch and judicious pedaling, transforming it into a stark, legato miniature in the manner of Federico Mompou.

"When you listen to the whole album, the last thing you imagine is that you will find a version of this song at the end," Ortiz says of a recital full of surprises. "I did it on purpose-the normal reaction would be, 'No, he won't play it,' before you realize what it is. It could be the album's epilogue, or the prologue if you listen to it again. Everything to me works in a circular motion."

The concept of circular motion is an interesting way to trace Ortiz' patient, winding path to the lucid abstractions of Hidden Voices from his long-out-of-print solo debut, Impresión Tropical, recorded in Madrid in 1996, just after he relocated there from Cuba. On that ten-tune recital, Ortiz addressed a mix of originals and pieces from various corners of the Cuban songbook, carving out percolating grooves that might propel celebrants on any Havana dance floor, then transforming the melodic throughline with sudden left turns into the harmonic world of the 20th century Euro-canon.

Seven years later, on Aruán Ortiz Trio, Volume 1, a year after Ortiz moved from Spain to Boston to study at Berklee School of Music, he convened bassist Peter Slavov and drummer Francesco Mela to navigate nine originals and Coleman's "The Invisible," demonstrating a fluent, personal conception of modern jazz piano dialects drawn from master practitioners like Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Paul Bley, and Andrew Hill.

Between 2003 and 2015, Ortiz led or co-led the excellent hardcore jazz combo albums Alameda, Orbiting and Banned In London, and spent several years playing piano and keyboards with Wallace Roney, with whom he recorded twice. He composed and conducted Santiarican Blues Suite-a five-part score that references a wide timeline of Cuban, Afro-Haitian and contemporary classical vocabulary-with a camerata of string quartet, two basses, two pianos, flute and percussion.

He produced, arranged and played on two albums with flutist Mark Weinstein-on El Cumbanchero he contributed three originals and seven modern arrangements of first-half-of-the-20th century Cuban songs popularized by Orquesta Arcaño y sus Maravillas, the seminal charanga band that, among other things, would popularize the mambo; on Latin Jazz Underground, he, Cleaver and master percussionist Román Diaz interpreted repertoire by Sam Rivers, Coleman and Hill with well-wrought Afro-Cuban rhythms and a free jazz spirit.

Ortiz has also co-produced and performed on three albums since 2010 with the Afro-HORN project of drummer Francisco Mora Catlett, and more recently, has collaborated on several projects with the eminent trumpeter-composer Wadada Leo Smith.

On Hidden Voices, Ortiz consolidates the fruits of intense research and development. Afro-Cuban and hardcore jazz roots are implied, not explicitly stated. "I have been writing tunes flirting with atonal and serial music for quite a while, finding harmonic movements that might not be familiar to some ears, and adding some Cuban Cubism to the palette," he says.

The album gestated in 2013 when Revive Music, the New York-based presenter and online hub, offered Ortiz a six-concert series at Manhattan's DROM and Zinc Bar. Titled after the Iannis Xenakis tome Music and Architecture, the events included a who's-who of New York's hardcore jazz and Afro-Caribbean practitioners, for whom Ortiz generated works focusing "on specific themes related to architectural patterns and using information drawn from non-musical contexts," often beginning "with simple materials to which I add layers, creating something more complex by juxtaposition."

Funds garnered from a Doris Duke Impact Award in 2014 enabled him to consolidate his ideas for the trio context, and to convene Revis and Cleaver in March for this recording.

"They are top professionals, who have played, toured and recorded at a high level for many years," Ortiz says of his partners. "For me, every note and beat they generate sounds like a composition, which made it easy to do this record. I didn't say much musically on the session, and we never did more than one or two takes. You don't have to demonstrate anything to them."

Ortiz' intuitive interaction with his partners reflects the notion of hidden voices. But he reiterates that, however long a distance he has traversed during the past two decades, the title most meaningfully singles out his "friends and mentors and teachers who have nurtured my hunger for knowledge, and the forces in Santiago de Cuba that catalyzed my development and are now my source of inspiration."

He adds: "But they are also the voices that appear when we listen to ourselves. For example, I admire the prominent figures who established Cubism, like Picasso, Braque and Wilfredo Lam, for their ability to deconstruct reality, inviting you to look closer inside the piece to start to understand what's in it. Their main theme is usually fragmented and hidden inside the painting. It takes time and patience to see that hidden theme. I feel that the more you listen to this album, the more familiar you get with the songs and melodies, the more they will start to resonate and unfold."
http://www.aruan-ortiz.com/

Friday, January 22, 2016

We hope you can come out and spend some time with us at our favorite Seal Beach Venue!
Here are the details:
8pm sharp!
Kobe Steakhouse & Lounge
kobebistro.com
3001 Old Ranch Pkwy, Seal Beach, CA 90740
(562) 596-9969

I believe they are now charging everyone $10 to sit in the lounge area. See you soon!

(Arnaldo DeSouteiro during a recording session in 2014)

"People are going to talk about you, especially when they envy you and the life you live. Let them. You affected their lives, they didn't affect yours... you will eventually lose someone you love & love someone you never thought you'd find..."

Arnaldo DeSouteiro - Short Bio

Music Producer (with over 530 albums to his credit according to the All Music Guide), Voting Member of NARAS-GRAMMY and Jazz Journalists Association (NY), Member of LAJS (Los Angeles Jazz Society), Musical Philosopher, Journalist, Jazz & Brazilian Music Historian, Publicist, Public Relations, Composer (having written successful jazz & pop songs, some dance hits like "O Passarinho" for the Italian TV reality show "La Pupa e Il Secchione", and "Samba da Copa" for the "2006 World Cup" in Germany, plus many other soundtracks for movies, soap operas & TV series in the USA -- PBS, BET, Universal Cable etc --, Europe and Asia), Lyricist (he wrote lyrics to Dave Brubeck's "Broadway Bossa Nova" at the invitation of Brubeck himself, among other songs), Arranger, Percussionist, Keyboardist, Programmer, Educator (conducting clinics and panel sessions worldwide as the first Brazilian member of IAJE-International Association of Jazz Educators during its existence). He has also acted as consultant for several companies and jazz festivals all over the world.

Founder and CEO of JSR (Jazz Station Records), a Division of Jazz Station Marketing & Consulting - LA, Calif. Most recently, founded LaCalifUSA Pictures and JSR Casting in 2007 for movie & TV productions featuring music & fashion.

Produced special compilations for Quincy Jones ("Summer in the City - The Soul Jazz Grooves of Quincy Jones"), Chick Corea ("Electric Chick") and Deodato ("Do It Again - The Fantastic Jazz-Funk of Eumir Deodato"), all released by Verve/Universal. His latest CD for Verve is "Bossa Nova USA," released last May, featuring Dave Brubeck's title track performed by Quincy Jones.

Mr. DeSouteiro has also worked in his native Brazil for TUPI-FM radio station (as musical programmer-DJ as well as hosting his own show, "Jazz Espetacular"), Manchete TV network (anchoring & supervising the "Terça Especial" series for which he interviewed such jazz giants as Dizzy Gillespie, Tony Bennett, Chuck Mangione, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim etc), Globo TV network (screenplay, coordination and mix for the TV special "João Gilberto & Antonio Carlos Jobim - O Grande Encontro" in 1992, the last time these 2 geniuses performed together, plus the texts and screenplay for the "Minuto da Bossa" series), and as the jazz columnist for the "Tribuna da Imprensa" (Press Tribune) daily newspaper during 29 years (from 1979 to 2008). Before moving to the USA, he also worked as Brazilian correspondent of "Keyboard" magazine (from 1985 to 1994), as a free-lancer to Billboard, Cuadernos de Jazz, Swing Journal and International Music Magazine, and as entertainment-in-flight programmer for several airline companies like Varig Brazilian Airlines (from 1983 to 1998).

Mr. DeSouteiro also had the honor to be associated with some of the world's greatest photographers like Pete Turner (who did the cover photos for Rodrigo Lima's "Saga" and Jorge Pescara's "Grooves in the Temple," released on his own JSR label and featured on Turner's new book "The Color of Jazz"), Victor Skrebneski (the CD reissue of "Upchurch/Tennyson"), Bruce Weber (Esther Phillips' "For All We Know"), Robert Mappelthorpe ("Brazilian Horizons"), Alen MacWeeney, William Cadge, and Duane Michals (many of the CTI CDs) and so on. He has appeared in several movies and TV series such as the Award Winning documentary movie "Beyond Ipanema," for which he was interviewed alongside Creed Taylor, Lalo Schifrin, Wayne Shorter, Gene Lees and Norman Gimbel.

(PLEASE, DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED MATERIAL; any unsolicited CD or promo packets will be returned. If you wish to submit material, please contact us through comments on this post or through Facebook. Thx!)https://www.facebook.com/arnie.gilberto

People are going to talk about you, especially when they envy you and the life you live. Let them. You affected their lives, they didn't affect yours... you will eventually lose someone you love & love someone you never thought you'd find...

Monday, January 18, 2016

REVIVE Music is proud to release “Soul Vibrations”, the first single off Brandee Younger’s sophomore CD “Wax & Wane.” Elevating the harp from orchestra pit to center stage, “Soul Vibrations” presents a luminous patchwork that stitches cascading sheets of sound and pulsing arpeggios with the thread of tribute. “Wax & Wane” will be available for pre-order on January 22 and officially released on February 19. The premiere of “Soul Vibrations” can be heard on Revive-Music.com

On “Soul Vibrations”, producer Casey Benjamin reimagines the Sun-Ra inflected original penned by the late arranger/composer and bassist Richard Evans. Reharmonizing the bassline, Benjamin launches the tune into another dimension without sacrificing the soul first imparted by the celebrated producer responsible for piloting a number of Dorothy Ashby recordings on the Cadet label, including Afro-Harping and The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby.

“I want listeners to walk away with a different perspective on the harp’s place in music. For people to know that the instrument can play a fully functioning role in many settings,” says Younger.
On “Wax & Wane”, which was recorded at The Breeding Ground in Brooklyn, NY, Younger presents the harp in a completely modern context where flutist Anne Drummond and saxophonist Chelsea Baratz’s Younger’s beautiful melodic lines flow above a pulse of unrelenting funk courtesy of guitarist Mark Whitfield, bassist Dezron Douglas and drummer Dana Hawkins.

The official release of “Wax & Wane” will follow an album release concert on February 17 at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in New York City.
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Evoking the musical equivalent of rare gems, Younger emerges from the legacies of Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane as she ushers in a new era that celebrates the unsung titan of string instruments.
Born during the REVIVE Music and Blue Note Records sessions for “Supreme Sonacy Vol. 1,” Younger’s latest album is a testament to her musical forebears that fuses classical technique with the persistent groove at the core of the Black music canon.

Produced by Casey Benjamin, “Wax & Wane” features flutist Anne Drummond and long-time members of Younger’s quartet, tenor saxophonist Chelsea Baratz and bassist Dezron Douglas, who trades in his upright bass for electric. Joining them are drummer Dana Hawkins and esteemed guitarist Mark Whitfield. Celebrated string duo Chargaux joins Younger for the project’s interludes.
“‘Wax & Wane’ represents constant change — back and forth,” says Younger. “We chose it as the title of the project because it is truly representative of the human experience, as an artist and individual. The high points and low points coloring the continuous struggle for balance at every phase of the journey exist – as they do in daily life – at the core of all of my work. ‘Wax and Wane’ is also the name of one of Dorothy Ashby’s compositions from her album ‘The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby’.”

“Wax & Wane” builds on the jazz/hip-hop/funk foundation laid down by Younger’s “Dorothy Jean”, Supreme Sonacy Vol. 1’s lead single that premiered on “Wax Poetics” in July of this year. “Exploring the depths of Ms. Ashby’s music was certainly a treat,” says Benjamin. “I can’t think of a better person than Brandee to channel the true essence and continue the lineage of Ms. Ashby’s work through her own voice, spirit and experience. I’m happy to ride along on the journey.”

The age-old combination of flute and harp is turned on its head in the hands of Drummond and Younger who bring together their lilting sounds to produce beautiful melodies underscored by unrelenting funk. “The timbres of the flute and harp are very compatible as both instruments lend themselves to tender expression that composers like Debussy took full advantage of,” explains Drummond, adding: “But they can be bold as well. With this project, I loved putting the blend of flute and harp within the groove-driven arrangements that Casey conceived for us all.”

With “Wax & Wane,” Brandee Younger is poised to take her place as a sonic tour de force and the latest innovator in a lineage of groundbreaking musical agitators leading to the rise of the harp. Spiritually transcendent and perennially fresh, “Wax & Wane” strikes a delicate balance between pushing the envelope and flat out breaking the mold. “I wanted to place the harp in a totally different context than what listeners are generally accustomed to and continue to position the harp in way that’s relevant today,” says Younger. With this seven track collection, Younger presents an altered universe where the fluttering polyphonic exchange of the harp and flute expand and contract against a dense rhythmic display.

“The combination of Dezron, Dana and Casey was the key to creating the underlying sound and feel of the album,” says Younger, “Mark was the icing on the cake while Anne and Chelsea took the initiative to harmonize melodies and elevate the tunes beyond what was written on paper.”
The official release of “Wax & Wane” will follow an album release concert on February 17 at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in New York City.

A classically train­ed harpist, New York native Brandee Younger is a graduate of the prestigious Hartt School of Music as well as New York University’s Steinhardt School. Over the past decade, Younger has shared the stage with a host of jazz luminaries including Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Pharoah Sanders and particularly Ravi Coltrane, whom she began working with in 2007 to honor his late mother Alice Coltrane.

Her debut EP “Prelude” was released in June 2011 to critical acclaim. As a classical musician, Younger has been featured as a soloist with The Harlem Chamber Players and has performed with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony, Waterbury Symphony, Soulful Symphony, Ensemble Du Monde, Camerata New York and the Red Bull Artsehcro, a “non-conformist” orchestra. In hop hop and r&b, Younger has worked with Common, Drake, John Legend and most recently, Lauryn Hill, to name a few.

Younger has released two recordings as a leader including the EP “Prelude”, released in 2011 and “Live At The Breeding Ground”, released in 2014.

Ralf Dombrowski talks to the German-Swiss pianist Joe Haider (born in Darmstadt, not Mannheim!) about the Munich jazz scene of the 1960s, about jazz and alcohol, about friendly and not so friendly musicians he had to accompany while being the house pianist at Domicile jazz club in Munich, about record sales then and now, about not daring to change anything by Thelonious Monk, and about his latest album, recorded for his 80th birthday, which for some numbers has a string quartet as accompaniment ( Süddeutsche Zeitung). --- Andrian Kreye reports about the saxophonist Donny McCaslin and how he got to be featured on David Bowie's last album released just two days before the pop hero's death last week ( Süddeutsche Zeitung).

15 January 2016 Coco Schumann / Richard Howell

Michaela Haas reports about the German guitarist Coco Schumann who survived the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, played in the Ghetto Swingers band in Theresienstadt and for the SS hangmen in Auschwitz, and who sees himself as "a musician who survived the concentration camps", not "a Holocaust survivor who happens to make music" ( The Huffington Post). --- Andrew Gilbert talks to the saxophonist Richard Howell about the Bay Area jazz scene around San Francisco, about his band Sudden Changes, about playing with his saxophone colleague Charles McNeal, but also reports about the other musicians in the band and about Howell's son, the 17-year-old drummer Ele Howell who recently sat in for trumpeter Christian Scott's drummer for a gig at Yoshi's ( KQED).

16 January 2016Bobby Hsu / Gunter Hampel

Peter Hum talks to the Canadian saxophonist Bobby Hsu about his latest project interpreting songs by the composer Stephen Sondheim, about the jazz repertoire in general, about his current band as well as about him sending a copy of his Sondheim album to the composer but having yet to receive a response from him ( Ottawa Citizen). --- Udo Hinz attends a lecture by the German bass clarinetist and vibraphonist Gunter Hampel about the roots of jazz, about the political implications of the music, about his experiences when living and working in New York, about jazz as a spiritual act, as well as about the chances to use jazz improvisation to involve some of the refugees of recent months and thus help to change society ( Göttinger Tageblatt ).

17 January 2016 Pop / David Bowie

Malte Borgmann and Mara Wecker see a comeback of jazz as an important color in pop music for 2016 and think this has to do with the political atmosphere of our times as well as with a new willingness of the audience to accept instrumentalists on stage who take a musical risk ( Bayerischer Rundfunk). --- Hans Hielscher takes up the subject in his tribute to the late David Bowie and reports that while Bowie saw himself as a pop musician he always admired the "jazz gods" ( Spiegel Online).

18 January 2016Joshua White / Benny Goodman

George Varga talks to the pianist Joshua White about growing up with a deep appreciation for classical music and only coming to jazz at the age of 17, about his love for the jazz tradition but trying to celebrate it from a 2016 perspective, about his fascination with the recordings of Art Tatum, as well as about not being in a hurry to record his own debut album ( San Diego Union-Tribune). --- Jon Hancock has published a free online update to his book documentation about Benny Goodman 's 1938 Carnegie Hall concert ( BG 1938).

Stefan Winter / Esquire All Stars

Ulrich Steinmetzger talks to the German producer Stefan Winter about the 30th anniversary of his record producing activities, first with JMT, later with Winter & Winter, about his ambition to get listeners surprised by the music they hear, as well as about his sound sculptures which have already been presented in several museums ( Thüringische Landeszeitung ). --- David Quirk reports about the Esquire jazz concert at the Metropolitan Opera House on Broadway and 39th Street in New York which took place in January 1944 and featured stars such as Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Art Tatum and others, and even a radio hookup with Benny Goodman who was in a studio in Hollywood ( New York Daily News).

... what else ...

Stefan Hentz reflects about the cultural and political implications of the changes at Hamburg's Elbjazz festival ( Kultur-Port). --- Herbert Heil talks to Dieter Arlet, the trumpeter of the German Wiesbadener Juristenband ( Wiesbadener Kurier ). --- Nate Chinen hears the guitarist Miles Okazami at the Jazz Gallery in New York ( New York Times). --- Raimund Meisenberger reports about a preliminary decision by Bayerischer Rundfunk not to televise the concerts at the Burghausen Jazzwoche in Germany because of budget cuts at the public TV station ( Burghauser Anzeiger ). --- Ben Ratliff ( New York Times) and Nate Chinen ( New York Times) attend the Winter Jazzfest in New York. --- The Italian guitarist Gigi Cifarelli was tested positive for doping and banned for four years from amateur cycling competitions ( Cycling Weekly).

Obituaries
We learned of the passing of the British organist Alan Haven at the age of 80.

Last Week at the Jazzinstitut

Last Wednesday all the staff of the Jazzinstitut including our volunteers and our current intern attended the exhibition "I Got Rhythm. Kunst und Jazz seit 1920" at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. Sven Beckstette, one of the exhibition's curators, led us through the show, after which we walked through a second time, with the excellent audio guides which not only included explanations about the paintings but also music sound files directly connected to the art work giving us new perspectives of the influence of jazz on visual arts in the 20th and beginning 21st century. The exhibition runs until March 2016 and is highly recommended; last Wednesday we were pleasantly surprised by the many interested visitors. The show will end with a small festival on 5th and 6th March featuring China Moses, Peter Brötzmann, Rüdiger Carl + Sven-Ake Johansson, as well as Alexander von Schlippenbach and the Rolf Kühn Unit.

This Wednesday (20 January, 7:30pm) we will stage another edition of the Mainz JazzTalks at the Johannes Gutenberg University, a joint venture between the music and the musicology departments of Mainz University and the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt. The subject of the 3rd Mainz JazzTalk is: "'No, It's a Woman's World, Too!' Why jazz no longer is just men's domain..." The discussion follows the subject of our Jazzforum conference last October focusing on "Gender and Identity in Jazz" and asks about the position of women in all areas of today's jazz scene. Yes, there may be more and more women musicians, and we also notice a change in the audience, but where are the female journalists, festival promoters, scholars, and why are there only two female musicians in the three publicly-funded German radio big bands? Guests of this edition of the Mainz JazzTalks are the saxophonist Angelika Niescier (Cologne), the club and festival organizer Nadin Deventer (Jazzfest Berlin) and the editor Christine Stephan (Jazzthetik magazine, Münster). The Mainz JazzTalks, moderated by Wolfram Knauer, try to connect theoretical and practical discourses, and thus the event will be musically framed by students playing several pieces connected to the subject.

The Mainz JazzTalks will be recorded for public broadcast. The recording and the editorial work will be done by students at the music and the musicology departments of University Mainz, under tutorship of Julia Neupert, an experienced radio editor for SWR public radio. The final show will be broadcast on 1 March 2016 at 9pm on SWR 2 radio.

You are cordially invited to the 3rd Main JazzTalk, which is free for all: Wednesday, 20 January 2016, 7:30pm, Roter Saal, Hochschule für Musik, Jakob-Welder-Weg 28, 55128 Mainz.

This Friday (22 January, 8:30pm) the Dutch pianist Jasper van't Hof as well as the Swiss percussionist Reto Weber will be guests at our 112th JazzTalk concert at the Jazzinstitut's intimate concert space.

Join Quincy Jones as he hosts his roster of multi-talented musicians in an intimate NYC jam session at Subrosa. You'll hear from Grammy® nominated artist and SACEM Grand Prize Winner, Richard Bona, along with the Afro Cuban Project and Mandekan Cubano; 21 year old Jacob Collier who is known for his viral YouTube videos and has been hailed as "Jazz's New Messiah" and "The Future of Music" by The Guardian and Jazzwise Magazine respectively; an undeniably rare talent and blind pianist, Justin Kauflin, who is the subject of the award-winning documentary Keep On Keepin' On; Alfredo Rodriguez, a Grammy® nominated pianist, arranger, and composer who will be performing material from his upcoming album, set to be released in March 2016; and Lee England Jr., a classically trained violinist and composer who is one of the only non-athletes signed to the Jordan brand.

You'll have the unique opportunity to hear these talents up close and personal at the first ever showcase combining this roster of artists. Experience the excitement and range of emotions associated with a wide variety of styles such as jazz, R&B, classical, hip-hop, and more--you also never know what special guests may show up! See you there!

Co Produced By Ari Silverstein of NYCJazzTour.com and Jean-Pierre LeDuc of Lunched Booking
Special thanks to The Jazz Foundation of America

"The definition of a jazz singer is a singer who sings jazz. Just being a jazz singer is a risk, because it is the world's most unpopular music. You have to dare. You have to get up there. Because you are creating. You are up there making something that wasn't there before and that takes daring. It's not the easiest way of life, but it is interesting. One thing jazz does is open you to improvise your life. You find out who you are from improvisation. You throw away what's not needed and get to what's real. Singing jazz, you know the melody, you know the lyrics, but I don't sing the same solos every night. When you're out there, on a tour, and you're doing different stuff every night, you leave a lot of adrenaline on that stage. In vocal jazz, the whole thing is highly, constantly, innovative. You re-create yourself every night."
- Mark Murphy

"The Maestro's contribution to The Hateful Eight is indeed a remarkable, late-career high-water mark. Cold, intense and tumultuous in equal measure, it matches the film's crescendo of violence from its opening overture to the ending number" - Rolling Stone "The soundtrack for The Hateful Eight has all the surging drama of Morricone's best work" - Billboard

Famed composer Ennio Morricone won a Golden Globe award this past weekend for The Hateful Eight Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Quentin Taran tino accepted the award on Morricone's behalf at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles, CA. Morricone has also been nominated for a BAFTA for his work on The Hateful Eight. And is a favorite to the Academy Award (OSCAR)!

Prior to the release of The Hateful Eight, Tarantino and Morricone met last month for a legendary event at Abbey Road Studios. Tarantino was joined by actors Kurt Russell and Walton Goggins, as they watched as Morricone conducted the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in a live recording of music from The Hateful Eight , cut direct to vinyl, bypassing traditional digital master creation and recording directly onto analog masters.

The result can be heard on the Collector's Edition vinyl of the Abbey Road Studios recording which is available for purchase as part of the special limited edition bundle and includes a double hand-stamped direct to vinyl pressing of the live recording with digital download, CD, and a lithograph featuring the Abbey Road Studios wall which was painted with The Hateful Eight logo and autographed by Tarantino, Morricone, Kurt Russell, Walton Goggins, the Abbey Road Studio crew, and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. To purchase the special limited edition bundle, visit www.thehatefuleightsoundtrack.com. (while supplies last)

Earlier this week, AV Club premiered an exclusive clip of Morricone and Tarantino in discussion prior to the Abbey Road Studios recordings.

Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight Original Motion Picture Soundtrack features original compositions from world-renowned, award-winning Italian composer Ennio Morricone. While Tarantino is a lifelong fan of Morricone's work and has used his music in his past five films, this historic collaboration marks the first time Morricone has recorded original score music specifically for one of Tarantino's films. It is also the first time Morricone has scored a Western film in over 40 years, since the release of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The JAMIE BAUM Septet + presents new music during APAP/JazzConnect/Winter Jazzfest as part of a four band showcase called New Sounds 4 New Times produced by Suzi Reynolds that runs from 6pm to 10pm. This is a free event open to the public with prioity seating for those connected with APAP, JazzConnect and Winter Jazzfest.

Vocalist, songwriter, arranger and lyricist Valentina Marino brings the sensitivity, sophistication and earthiness of her Mediterranean roots to cutting edge jazz. "Her depth of feeling…touches the hearts of all who hear her...Valentina Marino's interpretation of Dorham's "Blue Bossa" with Lawson's lyric paints pictures of the flow of waters' life that transcend the notion of singing into a numinous expression of authentic artistry'' says Grammy nominee Janet Lawson. "A musician who loves to share the magic" - in the words of jazz vocalist Amy London; "Creative, spontaneous: a passionate vocalist with an enormous capacity to communicate with her audience"- Cameron Brown, bassist and band leader.

Marino began her musical studies at the University of Music in Rome, continued taking piano and voice lessons in Vienna and later attended the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, where she received a BFA in Vocal Jazz Performance under the mentor ship of, among others, legendary bass player Reggie Workman, saxophonist David Glasser and vocalists Amy London, La Tania Hall, Julie Hardy and Janet Lawson.

While deeply rooted in Jazz, Marino is a musical gypsy, in constant search for unexplored paths where jazz can meet the energetic vibes and rhythms of Tango and Brazilian music and where pop songs can explore the language of improvisation or land into adventurous arrangements. What would remain of a human being without feelings and sensitivity? What would life be without the truth of human stories, the magic of improvisation, the pulsing rhythms of emotions, the passionate dances of the heart? On her music journey Marino sings these questions and searches in the moment for any possible answer.

Living in New York City, the epicenter of Jazz and world music, she has found the perfect environment to keep nurturing and developing this musical inter fusions through collaborations with artists coming from many different backgrounds. "Jazz is my magnet" – says Marino – "I love to see what happens when I temporarily separate from it and then find myself strongly pulled towards it". The blend of different music possibilities gravitating around jazz is what inspired her debut album, "PhiLOVEsophy" which will be released this Fall in New York City. The album is a selection of her originals, contemporary jazz songs and standards, bossa nova and pop tunes that have been arranged within a jazz realm.

Ms. Marino has performed, recorded and collaborated with various musicians of the European and American Jazz scene, including Cameron Brown, Jay Azzolina, Saul Rubin, Ray Gallon, Hans Salomon. In Vienna she sang at Zwe, Unplugged, Papas in Naschmarkt, Tunnel, Birdcage, Fischer Bräu, to name a few and performed with the Pandora's Box Tango Argentino Ensemble at The Rote Bar in Volkstheater. In Rome she performed at Charity, Flamingo and Bebo do Samba. In New York she sang and appeared among the others, at Somethin' Jazz Club, The Garage, Bar Next Door, The Flatiron Room, Cleopatra's Needle, Kitano, The Cotton Club.

A native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, pianist Helio Alves combines the rhythmic complexity of modern brazilian music with the edgy energy of contemporary jazz. A resident of NYC since the early '90s, Alves has received high praise as an in-demand sideman with the likes of Joe Henderson, Yo-Yo Ma, Paquito D'Rivera, Airto Moreira, Claudio Roditi and Sadao Watanabe, to name but a few. Helio has also released four albums under his own name: "Trios" (1998), "Portrait in Black & White" (2004), "It's Clear" (2009) and most recently, "Musica" featuring Antonio Sanchez, Reuben Rogers, Claudio Roditi and Romero Lubambo.

Pianist Fujii Performs Solo and Duo Concert with Alister Spence January 13 in GlebeTwo-trumpet ensemble Kaze unleashes storm of inventive sound with performances in Australia and Japan including Sydney, Melbourne, Kobe and Tokyo

"...the rarely heard sound of two trumpets collaborating, interweaving and cross-talking is at the center of the group Kaze, whose penultimate set of the festival was also one of the high points of the overall program." - Josef Woodard, DownBeat

Acclaimed pianist/composer Satoko Fujii -- one of the most compelling voices in music today -- tours Australia, January 13 - 19, 2016 and Japan, January 23 - 30, with a solo/duo performance as well as performances with the renowned collective quartet Kaze, which is touring to celebrate their recent CD Uminari.

Melodic, abstract, mysterious, beautiful, and confrontational, Kaze plays free jazz at its most creative and powerful. The members of this international quartet - pianist Fujii, trumpeters Natsuki Tamura and Christian Pruvost, and drummer Peter Orins - share an insatiable appetite for sonic experimentation, boundless energy and enthusiasm, and the disciplined intelligence of accomplished spontaneous composers.

The group has released three acclaimed recordings - 2011's Rafale, 2013's Tornado, and the May 2015 release Uminari which the London Jazz News calls "...bold, uncompromising music." Uminari is a Japanese word that refers to a sound rising from the sea, a low-frequency roar that portends a coming storm or tsunami. The two-horn quartet is equally adept at the calm and the storm, with expressive subtleties giving way to overwhelming torrents of sound.

"Alternately brash or meditative, Kaze is one of the hippest projects yet from Fujii...Fujii underlines that Kaze is a democratic collective originally instigated by Orins, but her wider reputation as a stunning pianist, prolific composer and veteran bandleader has been a key draw for jazz fans since the group formed in 2010. On their latest disc, Uminari (or Sea Of Sound), the adventurous band can swerve from swinging, tuneful inside jazz to outside, spontaneous improvisations in a single track." - Roger Levesque, Edmonton Journal

"Each one of Kaze's releases has been uniquely filmic and expressionistic and Uminari is no exception. The seamless and exquisite camaraderie among the ensemble members make it cohesive and imaginative while brimming with spontaneity...Satoko Fujii once again proves that she is one of the most brilliant, compelling and intelligent voices in modern music." - Hrayr Attarian, All About Jazz

"The title is a Japanese word which depicts a low frequency sound from the sea that presages a storm, and it's an appropriate name for this disc of bold, uncompromising music." - Peter Jones, London Jazz News

"4.5 stars. This is music which is meant to be experienced rather than merely listened to, with time and space being changed for its duration, if not after." - Budd Kopmann, All About Jazz

"If you're a fan of the free, this is a home." - George Harris, Jazz Weekly

"Japanese pianist/composer Satoko Fujii, and her collaborators... live on the frontiers of jazz and the frontiers of sound." - Andrew Hamlin, Northwest Asian Weekly

One of the most original and wide-ranging voices in modern jazz, Satoko Fujii has documented her abilities on more than 70 CDs in less than 20 years. The Tokyo native relocated to the U.S. to study at Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory, where she was mentored by the likes of Paul Bley, Herb Pomeroy, George Russell and Cecil McBee. Through her touring and collaborations she's truly become a citizen of the world, most recently settling in Berlin. She's founded jazz orchestras there as well as in New York and Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kobe in Japan.

Fujii has also led the quartets Ma-Do and Tobira and an avant-rock group featuring Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida. In recent years she's formed fruitful collaborations with such inventive artists as pianist Myra Melford, drummer John Hollenbeck, violinist Carla Kihlstedt, and guitarist Elliott Sharp.

Japanese trumpeter and composer Natsuki Tamura is internationally recognized for a unique vocabulary that blends extended techniques with touching jazz lyricism. This unpredictable virtuoso "has some of the stark, melancholy lyricism of Miles, the bristling rage of late 60s Freddie Hubbard and a dollop of the extended techniques," according to Mark Keresman of JazzReview.com.

Throughout his career, Tamura has led bands with radically different approaches. Most recently, he has led First Meeting, a quartet featuring pianist Satoko Fujii, drummer Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, and electric guitarist Kelly Churko, "a noisy, free, impatient" band according to Steve Greenlee of the Boston Globe. Since 2005, Tamura has focused on the intersection of European folk music and sound abstraction with Gato Libre, a quartet featuring Fujii on accordion, Tsumura Kazuhiko on guitar, and Koreyasu Norikatsu on bass.

Orins and Pruvost are both members of the musicians' collective, Muzzix, based in Lille, France. Orins leads Impressions, a quintet that has been described as "always on the lookout for new sounds." The band cites Ornette Coleman, Paul Motian, Tim Berne, Steve Coleman, and Jim Black as influences, but it charts its own sound, in which "rhythm is of the essence, as well as a dynamic exchange between the band members." Pruvost, a member of Impressions, is also a leader in his own right, and has recorded a widely praised album of solo trumpet improvisations, Ipteravox.

"For musicians getting good collaborators means a lot," Fujii says. "It is like a getting the best friends in life." These four best friends hold nothing back when they play.

7" Single of the MonthRay Barretto: "Pastime Paradise/Mambotango" (Athens Of The North ATH 028)
Licensed from Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited
Released: December 10, 2015
Produced by Creed Taylor, originally released on CTI Records

Destination 1981 for these Latin cover versions from renowned composer and Tito Puente compadre Ray Barretto. First heard on his 1981 CTI album La Cuna (recorded in 1979), both these versions (taken from the original masters) sparkle and shine with this trademark jazz signature; the 7" version "Pastime Paradise" offers a little more bounce in the rhythm than Stevie's original while the vocals are eerily similar to Wonder himself. Carlos Franzetti's "Mambotango" enjoys pride of place on the B; light and almost loungey in its make up, the horns do all the seducing over a smouldering latin beat.